The Guardium UGV, being billed as "the world’s 1st operational autonomous UGV system", is a high-speed perimeter-security ground robot designed for protecting high-value targets like…

military bases, airfields, airports, power facilities (including nuclear power plants), etc. DefenseReview assumes the system can be weaponized, but we haven’t interviewed anyone at G-NIUS (pronounced "geniu", get it?), yet. If the Guardium UGV isn’t weaponized, Defense Review believes it should be, and can’t see any reason not to do so, unless the Israelis are worried about the robot being disabled and disarmed by enemy forces, as has happened with SWORDS (Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection System), i.e. the armed/weaponized Talon robot made by Foster-Miller. DefenseReview has been told by U.S. Army Special Forces (SF) contacts of ours that some U.S. Army personnel operating in Afghanistan have jokingly referred to SWORDS as the "Taliban Resupply Vehicle" (TRV) for this reason. Apparently, Taliban fighters will hide and wait for the weaponized Talon robot/SWORDS to roll by, sneak up on it, tip it over, remove the machine gun (or any other weapon) and ammo from it, and then use it/them against U.S. forces. Anyway, we’ll try to glean some info on the weaponization capability of Guardium.

Anyway, the Israelis claim that the Guardium UGV is capable of "enduring fail-proof operation in ‘dull, dangerous and dirty’ scenarios." Guardium’s command and control subsystem can be seamlessly integrated with end-users’ fixed and mobile C4I (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence) infrastructures.

About David Crane

David Crane started publishing online in 2001. Since that time, governments, military organizations, Special Operators (i.e. professional trigger pullers), agencies, and civilian tactical shooters the world over have come to depend on Defense Review as the authoritative source of news and information on "the latest and greatest" in the field of military defense and tactical technology and hardware, including tactical firearms, ammunition, equipment, gear, and training.